Jan 11, 2018 05:30 am | Kevin<\/em><\/h4>\n![\"bible\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/loweringthebar.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bible-new-rev-std-version.jpeg?fit=300%2C169\")
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So, let\u2019s see here. In surveys<\/a> of the 50<\/a> states, Mississippi is pretty consistently ranked at or near the bottom when it comes to health care, education, infrastructure, and economic opportunity. It usually has\u2014by a wide margin\u2014the greatest percentage of low-birthweight babies and the highest infant mortality rate, as well as the highest overall death rate, the lowest per capita income, and the lowest percentage of high-school graduates of any state in the nation. It has the fewest doctors, the fewest dentists, the highest rate of heart disease (also strokes, diabetes and septicemia), and was quite\u00a0recently named<\/a>\u00a0the very worst state in the country in which to raise a child.<\/em><\/p>\nClearly, Mississippi is in desperate need of an official state book.<\/em><\/p>\nYou could probably have guessed which book that would be, too, even if I hadn\u2019t put it in the headline.<\/em><\/p>\nYes, HB 130<\/a>, introduced on January 2 by Rep. Tom Miles, provides as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n\nSECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 3-3-63,\r\nMississippi Code of 1972:\r\n 3-3-63. The Holy Bible is designated as the official state\r\nbook of Mississippi.\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\nOf course, you will have no trouble spotting the main problem with this law: which \u201cHoly Bible\u201d is it making official? This problem may not have occurred to Rep. Miles, just like it didn\u2019t occur to Rep. Tom Carmody of Louisiana (usually state #49) when he tried this same stunt a while back.\u00a0See\u00a0\u201cLouisiana Debates Which Holy Bible to Make Official State Book<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Lowering the Bar (Apr. 2014). But then at the time, I had also forgotten, if I ever knew, that the King James Version is, well, missing a few parts. Depending on who you ask, of course, and Carmody didn\u2019t bother to ask any of the Catholics on his committee. The debate that then ensued about the Louisiana bill was something I found very remarkable, as well as very remarkably stupid.<\/em><\/p>\nThat\u2019s because of the\u00a0other\u00a0main problem with such bills: regardless of which Bible the sponsor means, a law that would make any religious text the \u201cofficial state book\u201d could not be more unconstitutional. (See also this<\/a>, and this<\/a>, which dealt with two equally pointless bills in 2016.) But virtually every year, someone who doesn\u2019t understand that, or pretends not to understand that, wastes everybody\u2019s time with similar nonsense.<\/em><\/p>\nI guess it shouldn\u2019t be at all surprising that 2018 is no exception.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The good book (not mine, btw, but someone’s) raises its cover, via Kevin Underhill, in Lowering the Bar. Who, as a good lawyer, points out the constitutional problem with making the bible an “official state book.” Oh, Good, Another \u201cOfficial … Continue reading
<\/p>\nClearly, Mississippi is in desperate need of an official state book.<\/em><\/p>\n You could probably have guessed which book that would be, too, even if I hadn\u2019t put it in the headline.<\/em><\/p>\n Yes, HB 130<\/a>, introduced on January 2 by Rep. Tom Miles, provides as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n Of course, you will have no trouble spotting the main problem with this law: which \u201cHoly Bible\u201d is it making official? This problem may not have occurred to Rep. Miles, just like it didn\u2019t occur to Rep. Tom Carmody of Louisiana (usually state #49) when he tried this same stunt a while back.\u00a0See\u00a0\u201cLouisiana Debates Which Holy Bible to Make Official State Book<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Lowering the Bar (Apr. 2014). But then at the time, I had also forgotten, if I ever knew, that the King James Version is, well, missing a few parts. Depending on who you ask, of course, and Carmody didn\u2019t bother to ask any of the Catholics on his committee. The debate that then ensued about the Louisiana bill was something I found very remarkable, as well as very remarkably stupid.<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s because of the\u00a0other\u00a0main problem with such bills: regardless of which Bible the sponsor means, a law that would make any religious text the \u201cofficial state book\u201d could not be more unconstitutional. (See also this<\/a>, and this<\/a>, which dealt with two equally pointless bills in 2016.) But virtually every year, someone who doesn\u2019t understand that, or pretends not to understand that, wastes everybody\u2019s time with similar nonsense.<\/em><\/p>\n I guess it shouldn\u2019t be at all surprising that 2018 is no exception.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The good book (not mine, btw, but someone’s) raises its cover, via Kevin Underhill, in Lowering the Bar. Who, as a good lawyer, points out the constitutional problem with making the bible an “official state book.” Oh, Good, Another \u201cOfficial … Continue reading \n
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 3-3-63,\r\nMississippi Code of 1972:\r\n 3-3-63. The Holy Bible is designated as the official state\r\nbook of Mississippi.\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n